1907: The Week J.P. Morgan Saved America

In October 1907, a failed bet on a copper stock set off a run on the banks of New York. Trust companies collapsed, the stock market nearly closed, and the city itself came within days of missing payroll. The United States had no central bank. So a 70-year-old private banker, J. Pierpont Morgan, became one: he decided which banks lived, kept the exchange open with $23.6 million raised in sixteen minutes, and locked 120 bankers inside his library until they signed. This is the story of the Panic of 1907, and of why America built the Federal Reserve so it would never again depend on one man. ▶ More from The Power Files:    • The Power Files   ▶ Every ARCHIVUM documentary:    • ARCHIVUM   🔔 Subscribe:    / @archivumfilms   CHAPTERS 0:00 The Locked Library 2:14 Part 1 - A Country Without a Banker 5:03 Part 2 - The Shock from San Francisco 7:18 Part 3 - The Man at the Corner 10:06 Part 4 - The Copper Corner 13:52 Part 5 - The Knickerbocker 17:45 Part 6 - The Place to Stop the Trouble 20:45 Part 7 - Sixteen Minutes 24:04 Part 8 - The City That Could Not Pay 25:47 Part 9 - The Weekend of the Locked Doors 30:20 Interlude - What No One Wanted to Say 30:59 Part 10 - The Price 32:55 Part 11 - The Commission 34:19 Part 12 - The Duck Hunt 36:22 Part 13 - Character 39:26 The Lesson 41:22 Epilogue - The Key SOURCES & ARCHIVES U.S. House of Representatives, Money Trust Investigation (Pujo Committee), Part 15, testimony of J. P. Morgan, Dec. 19, 1912 (public domain). Period photographs: Library of Congress (Bain News Service, Detroit Publishing), NARA, Wikimedia Commons (public domain and CC licenses, credited below). IMAGES Full credits for every photo and document shown are in the pinned comment. AI-generated illustrations are used only for symbolic scenes (objects, empty rooms); no real person is depicted by AI. MUSIC (CC BY / CC BY-SA, Jamendo): Pitch Black by Fragments Of Winter · CC BY-SA 3.0; Cyber_Visions by Fragments Of Winter · CC BY-SA 3.0; Una sospirata pausa by Blue Lady G · CC BY-SA 3.0; A World Apart by A.K.1974 · CC BY-SA 3.0; IVAN TREGUB - Mimir by Ivan Tregub (BER) · CC BY 3.0; L'hiver by Mister M · CC BY-SA 3.0; Oasis by zero-project · CC BY 3.0; The passage by zero-project · CC BY 3.0; Your Beautiful Eyes by Sevennotes · CC BY 3.0; INCARNATION, LIFE'S MYSTERY by SHAMATRONIC · CC BY-SA 3.0; So Beautiful by Tracing Arcs · CC BY-SA 3.0; Mission Baby (prod. Suspekt) by Aisha Sal Diri · CC BY 3.0; Autumn prelude by zero-project · CC BY 3.0; Beautiful Way by Keffy Kay · CC BY 3.0; Sunset Romance (Drama) by Grégoire Lourme · CC BY-SA 3.0; Our Obdurate Past by Christiaan Bakker · CC BY 3.0; Battle with the Vah Craftsman by Zeffon · CC BY-SA 3.0; Frozen Darkness by Stefano Giardiniere · CC BY-SA 3.0; The preparation by zero-project · CC BY 3.0; Powerless by Fragments Of Winter · CC BY-SA 3.0; Looking For The Light by UnderMole · CC BY-SA 3.0; Dolina miodu by Dieter Werner Archive Records · CC BY 3.0; A Melancholical Hero 2019 by Daniel Bautista · CC BY 3.0; Thought by LW§LH · CC BY-SA 3.0; Tombée du soir by Laurent Danis · CC BY-SA 3.0; 2 percenter by Williamson · CC BY-SA 3.0; We Are Temporary And We Are Beautiful As Such by Tonepoet · CC BY-SA 3.0; Joshua by Laurent Danis · CC BY-SA 3.0; Moonlight No. 1 by zero-project · CC BY 3.0; The secret passion by zero-project · CC BY 3.0; Naga-Vaggo (The Elephant) by Ostenvegr · CC BY 3.0; Desire by Sevennotes · CC BY 3.0; Against Gravity by Fragments Of Winter · CC BY-SA 3.0; Over and Over by Kozirsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 Full image credits are in the pinned comment. ARCHIVUM · The Power Files